The Passengers
by qrx
Summary: “No Ziva, don’t look around, look at me okay? I want you to close your eyes and think of the place where you were the happiest. And the next time you open your eyes this will all be over."


**This is what happens when you write while having Cold Play's The Scientist stuck in your head right after watching the Passengers. I hope you like it.**

**This has nothing to do with Jetlag. And don't worry there are no spoilers for Passengers, although you should check it out if you haven't seen it. It's a good movie, I might have cried at the end. My eleven year old brother did, he such a sensitive little dude. **

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It had been raining when the plane took off. It wasn't pouring, but wasn't sprinkling either.

It got worse about an hour into the flight. A clap of thunder woke Tony from his nap. His head snapped up and he quickly glanced around the cabin. Some of the passengers were starting to look a little nervous while some of the more frequent fliers remained calm and continued eating their peanuts.

He turned to Ziva who was staring out the window.

"How does it look out there?" He grunted stretching his arms.

"Bad." She replied without looking away from the window.

"Let me see." He leaned over her and stared out the small window. It was pitch black outside, the only thing that Tony could see was the blinking lights on the wing of the plane. There was another clap of thunder and less then two seconds later a flash of lightning illuminated the dark clouds. Tony pulled the shade down and leaned back in his chair.

"This reminds me of a movie, The Twilight Zone were John Lithgow plays this guy who's flying in a storm and he sees this monster trying to tear the plane apart only no one else believes him." Ziva looked at him and frowned.

"That is not helping."

"Sorry I didn't realize that you were scared of flying."

"I am not, the weather is just making me nervous."

"Ahh come on, you are more likely to get in car crash then a plane crash. And your driving is terrible, so that should double your chances of not being in a plane crash." Just then the plane lurched dangerously to the left as it encountered some turbulence. Tony gripped the armrest anxiously and leaned stiffly back in his seat.

"You were saying?" There was another flash of lightning and all lights in the cabin shut off and the plane tipped slowly forward. Tony and Ziva turned to each other in alarm.

"Are we…"

"No..."

They turned to the front of the plane and stared at the cockpit door, willing to the plane to level off. But it never did.

The passengers in the plane were panicking, and when the oxygen masks dropped from the compartment above, there was a mad scramble for the cheap plastic contraptions.

The plane picked up speed as it plummeted toward the ocean. There was a flash of lightening and several of the windows blew out, a deafening wind ripped through the openings and filled the cabin. Tony and Ziva subconsciously grabbed each other's hands and held on tight.

Ziva turned to the window across the aisle and she could see that the wing on the other side of the plane had caught fire, and that's when it hit her.

They were going to die.

She turned to Tony and saw him staring straight ahead at the cockpit praying for a miracle. As she was watching Tony there was another flash and his face is illuminated. And in that split second of brilliant light he looked so handsome, Ziva realized she did not want to die. She thought she had been ready in Somolia, but here, now. She could not bear the thought of leaving Tony, the team, her family.

When Ziva pulled her hand from Tony's grasp he snapped out of his trance. He turned and saw that she was trying to take off her oxygen mask. He tore off his own mask and shouted,

"What are you doing?"

"I do not want to die." Her voice was laced with such sadness that it pained him to hear it.

"Don't worry you won't."

"We are about to crash into the middle of the freezing ocean going at who knows how many hundred miles per hour! I pretty sure we are going to die!"

"Ziva just calm down and listen." Tony spoke with such calmness it surprised her.

"Tony-" Ziva said exasperated, the screams and cries of the other passengers were ringing in her ears. She glanced around the cabin and saw the woman across the aisle holding her baby, her lips were moving rapidly as she murmured a prayer out loud.

"No Ziva, don't look around, look at me okay? Look at me." Ziva turned away from the woman and when she stared into the Tony's eyes she somehow felt safer. "Okay good. I want you to close your eyes and think of the place where you were the happiest, then I want you to fill it with all the people you love. And the next time you open your eyes this will all be over."

Tony watched as Ziva nodded and closed her eyes, he never realized just how beautiful she was. Ziva looked thoughtful for a moment then after awhile she smiled. The smile brought Tony a feeling of peace in the midst of the chaos and he couldn't help but grin. God he loved that smile. Tony considered closing his eyes too, but he couldn't bring himself to tear his gaze away from Ziva. A moment later Ziva opened her eyes.

"You're supposed to keep you eyes closed!"

"I don't want to be anywhere else!" As she said this, a single tear escaped and slid down her cheek. Tony smiled stupidly. "What?"

"You used a conjunction." Ziva just shook her head and although Tony could not hear it over the roar of the wind he could tell she was laughing.

"And I suppose this reminds you of a movie?" She choked.

"Yeah, Passengers with Anne Hathaway."

"How did it end?"

"You'll see."

They did not even bother to get into the brace position as they plummeted toward the ocean. They were completely oblivious to all that was going on around them. The cries of the other passengers did not reach their ears, and when the fire started to lick the inside of the cabin they did not feel its heat.

They just sat hand in hand, staring intently at each other, cherishing the last moments. No words were spoken for none were needed.

But in the final seconds, when the ocean's fierce waves were right below them, Tony shouted something to Ziva.  
She smiled, squeezed his hand and shouted something back.

And the last thing Ziva saw,

Was Tony grinning back at her.

And for once in her life.

She felt completely at peace.

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**Please tell me what you thought! Hit? Miss? Hiss? Mit? **

**Please Review.**

**Also if you are following my other story I will be posting an update sometime this week.**


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